My EVE Life So Far

Welcome to the eighteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by none other than me, CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

On May 6th 2010, EVE Online celebrated its 7th Anniversary. Quite a milestone in MMO history, especially considering that it is one of the few virtual worlds out there to see its population continually grow year after year. For some of you who’ve been here since the very beginning, EVE has evolved quite a lot since its creation. With the expansion rolling out roughly twice a year, New Eden gets renewed and improved regularly. But, how about you the player? How has your gaming style evolved through the years or months since you’ve started playing? Have you always been a carebear, or roleplayer? Have you only focused on PvP or have you given other aspects of the game a chance – say manufacturing. Let’s hear your story!

First off, a very late (but fond) Happy Birthday to EVE Online!
Now, on to the matter at hand.

How has my gaming style evolved over time? Excellent question, and one that got me thinking about where I want to go in the future with Yrielle and my alt.

The first time I started playing EVE Online, I had just quit World of Warcraft, a game I played for about 2 years.
I was still used to being led in what to do, and was used to just get on with it, and not think about my actions in-game.
Planning ahead in-game was something I had never even heard of!

Off course, I took this mentality with me in EVE, and just clobbered together a char and went ahead.
Tutorials were done, first skills were trained, and I got dropped in the deep end of the pool amongst very big sharks.
As many of you will probably relate to, I had a feeling of “WTF? What do I do now? Where am I supposed to go?”.

First thing I did then was open the market screen, and take a look at all the shiny ships available to us players.
Enter error the first, I stupidly started training for the first ship that took my notice, a Thorax.
Also, enter error the second, and one of the biggest errors I made back then, I totally neglected my support skills.

Luckily, I soon realized the error of my ways, deleted that long-lost char, and started afresh.
This time, I took some time to create a decent char, and started working on my support skills before I started thinking about what ship next to fly.
I can now say for sure that this is the thing that kicked off my evolution from a WoW player into an EVE Online player.
It was the first time ever I gave some thought and put some effort into creating a char that was going to last a long time (or so I thought at that time).

Now, this second char was an Amarr, dealing fiery death to the infidel pirate NPC’s via close ranged lasers.
Alas, this char wasn’t to last that long, and barely a month after creation it got biomassed.

Enter Caldari.
In games, I have always preferred to deal death from a distance, and that is the main reason why I chose a Caldari char.
I have always found it fun to spam missiles at NPC ships, and watch them go Ka-Boom from afar.

After running missions for a few weeks, I became bored with it, and my very first evolutionary step hit me with the force of a Catapult Powered Sledgehammer.
I took up mining, and have never looked back since.
It might sound very strange to a lot of players, but I very much enjoy mining in EVE Online, it gives me a sense of peace and much needed rest during the evening.
Having trained up the necessary skills, and after having mined a lot in my Bantam, I was ready for my Mining Osprey.
This also saw me creating my very first skillplan that led me, unsurprisingly I think, on the long road to the Hulk.

Having acquired my Hulk, I felt kind of lost then, having achieved my ‘goal’ in EVE Online.
I stopped to reconsider my options, and soon hatched a scheme to start up some T1 production, and make a profit for myself.
This has culminated in what is now Ortog Promethium Industries, and a second account.
Currently, I am very busy shooting Rocks in Space to gather the much needed minerals to produce all the goodies I can make.

Has this stopped my evolution as a player though?
No, it has not!

I have now started on what is called by many as Market PvP, and is something I like to do.
Before, I didn’t really take notice of the workings of the EVE Online Markets, and just bought what was closest and/or cheapest in terms of raw materials needed.
With the advent of [ORTOG], this changed however, and I started browsing consciously through the market.
I started hunting bargains and possible trade opportunities.
This was another evolutionary step for me, as I started thinking about what kind of profit I was making, and where I actually wanted to go with [ORTOG] as a whole.

Will I keep evolving as a player?
I can say for sure that I will.
I have always been a PvE/Carebear player (and damn proud of it!), but nowadays I’m starting to feel the pull of PvP activities as well.
Will I give in to this tug? I do not know, and will see what the future brings for me.

Untill then, I’ll be a Carebear, flooding your markets with T1 stuff to get that much needed ISK.